Making this PSA — from NYC’s Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, supposedly to combat HIV transmission — more popular than it ever would’ve been, GLAAD and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis are calling on the city’s health officials to immediately yank it, because it portrays gays in typical fashion: as scary AIDS-spreading monsters of society. Since when did a little anal cancer and dementia become so offensive?
“It really paints this picture of gay men as these sort of disease-ridden vessels, and so the message is really sort of, ‘Stay away from gay men,’” says Francisco Roque, director of community health for GMHC, who notes the ad looks more like a “horror movie” than an attempt to educate gay men. But the city’s health department says in a statement that the ad is appropriate: “In developing this video spot, we tested various approaches in focus groups. The spot was informed by that process and by lessons learned from our successful anti-smoking efforts. It was also carefully vetted for technical accuracy.”
Adam
Oh no! If I get osteoporosis, how am I supposed to dance at the club? How am I supposed to attract men if I can’t dance? WHO WILL CASUALSEX ME THEN?
Daez
Seriously, to be truly upset about this video you would have to be on the side of the person that is not practicing safe sex. The only issue I have with this video is the last part. The rest of it is just pure and simple honesty.
The last part is flawed because condoms are by no means 100% fool proof and while they can reduced the infection rate, do not in all cases prevent HIV.
The end needs to talk about limiting partners and about how using condoms while not limiting partners is truly dangerous as well.
Kev C
And now everyone knows it .. the NYC Dept of Horror has always been out of it’s mind.
DR
PSAs need to be HONEST.
This isn’t an ad for some new drug or a support group or “how to be safe” class. It’s a Public Service Ad regarding one of the worst diseases to ever hit. It shouldn’t be sexy, or fun, or cute. HIV/AIDS is none of the above. Yes, we have wonderful men and women willing to stand up and talk about how it’s no longer a death sentence from the word “go”, but we very rarely see images of real people dealing with real consequences.
John
I could have done without the graphic image of anal cancer, though mentioning it was good, but I really don’t have a problem with this ad. It’s a PSA and I’ve seen enough of them for smoking and drugs to know that this is par for the course. I hope it helps someone reconsider their sex practices.
D.R.A.
I like the ad. I especially like that it’s aimed at gay men. The message of the ad isn’t “Stay away from gay men,” it’s “HIV is an awful disease and you should try your very best not to get it.”
And it’s entirely appropriate for the ad to look like a horror movie, because HIV is a horrible disease. GLAAD and GMHC are being oversensitive.
Mike in Asheville
The message is important and needs to be PSA’d over and over and over again. I am now 51 and have been HIV+ my entire adult life (yes I know that the HIV antibody test was available only starting in 1986 when I tested positive but other issues indicate I was positive at least 5+ years before then).
I do not complain about my condition as I witnessed first hand and in person the loss of many friends in spite of all the efforts and love helping and caring for them. Lucky to be alive; unlucky to be living, 3 decades, with this horrible disease. The PSA hardly shows anywhere near all the terrible conditions HIV/AIDS patients endure. And the notion that the disease is treatable is also laughable. IT IS NOT TREATABLE, IT IS TOLERABLE. Treatment reduces many problems only to give rise to new problems: now I get to live with the side effects of taking poisons designed to kill certain body cells killing other important and needed to live cells too.
****************
I do question whether of quality of the writing and imagery of the ads are as effective as they could be. I am not sure whether the direct cause-effect message is clear. Perhaps the ads need be more graphic.
Tim
This ad is long overdue.
Facts are facts, and AIDS can be devastating.
Kudos to the New York City Health Department for their forthright approach.
Henry Holland
Oh noes! The poor fee-fees of some barebackers might get hurt if they see this ad! We can’t have that!
Good for them, tell it like it is, as Mike in Asheville described it.
scott ny'er
i know it scared the crap out of me and I’m already paranoid about it. Just ask my ex.
Other than being gay-specific, I have nothing against this PSA. As another poster mentioned, I think PSA needs to hit you over the head with their messages. Y’know, the frying egg/ this is your brain on crack ad, that’s brilliant, creative stuff.
Kev C
What about the poor TV viewers in NYC? Constantly bombarded with gross crap, it’s enough to scare anyone away from the TV.
Daez
@Henry Holland: I love how people attack bare back sex, even when its between two long term committed partners, and pay no attention to the fact that used correctly (which isn’t always the case), condoms are still only 90% affective.
Therefore, you condom users that sleep with 10 guys a week are much more at risk than someone who has only slept with on partner (one he even knows the status of because they get tested together) in the last 5 years.
Dave
I think educating would have been a more appropriate word than scaring in Queerty’s title.
This AD = REALITY.
It is not fiction.
Sometimes reality sucks.
We need to get our heads out of the sand.
It’s a good, honest ad.
It may save some lives.
:)
I sure don’t want booty cancer.
Dean
This is a great ad. If anything it is way too tame given the reality of the effect of HIV infection, even when treated by modern drugs. Everyone, please reduce the number of sexual partners you have, always use condoms for anal and vaginal intercourse if you are not in a mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner, and also consider using condoms for oral sex.
Dean
@Daez: Of course the safest and most common policy is to be mutually monogamous with an uninfected partner who you can trust. In this case your risk of infection is zero.
Dean
@Mike in Asheville: Thanks for your comments. We really need more infected people to speak the truth. The effects of HIV are quite horrific. We must dramatically reduce new infections.
Qjersey
GMHC has become completely ineffective in doing anything except case management for those who are already infected. And that’s putting it politely.
Jeffree
@Mike in Asheville:
Thanks for saying that.
The PSAs are needed, in part, because the adverts for HIV meds that appear in the LGB press and elsewhere make it appear as if the drugs are free of risks and side effects. “Take this and go climb Mt. Everest worry-free” is the implied message. Talk about a misleading PSA!
Guys in my age range still seem to think that HIV is curable or soon to be.
The nay-sayers will gripe that PSA’s don’t work, but if these PSA’s make someone, anyone, a few people, think twice before taking someone’s word that “Yep, I’m clean”, then the ads are worth it.
papparon
It is a mediocre ad that could have been a LOT better by the inclusion of at least one female. The finger-pointing at gay men was not necessary and could have been avoided.
I therefore conclude that it is biased, but better than nothing. As a member of the gay community which this ad targets, I am ashamed of our own track record for dealing with AIDS which is worse than ever among us.
jj
@Mike in Asheville:
I applaud your message and your bravery in coping with your disease. When you contracted it, we didn’t know any better, now we do. I love my HIV + brothers, but I don’t want any more of them. Thank you for your post.
Heather
The tension always seems to be conveying the gravity of HIV infection in a way that’s going to be taken seriously, especially by HIV- folks who dismiss it, feel invincible or have a lofty sense of confidence in treatment advancements. Versus… Exacerbating the already really intense stigma faced by those living with HIV who would like to be treated in a dignified way, without being stripped of their sexuality or dehumanized as “walking biohazard” or “pubic health threat”.
I don’t really know where the balance lies, but I always hope folks consider both perspectives thoughtfully.
Alex
@Heather: Well said.
I also like what Scott Ny’er had to say about the frying egg/ this is your brain on crack ad.
Graphics help to make a concept memorable.
jason
Gay men catch illnesses. But there is no such thing as a gay man catching an illness because he’s gay.
Therefore, I do think this New York ad is homophobic. Moreover, it plays right into the hands of the religious right who like to perceive us as being ill because of our orientation.
The only reason this ad is supported by some in the gay community is because there’s an element of the gay community that is self-loathing and in denial about the causes of venereal illnesses. These gays refuse to believe that their predicament is caused by promiscuity. They hide their promiscuity behind the “gay rights” banner, thus deflecting from their own poor choices in relation to promiscuous behavior.
Sorry, guys, but your promiscuity and drug use has nothing to do with gay rights. Gay rights are noble, your promiscuity isn’t.
Throbert McGee
I liked the ad’s bluntness, but I would’ve preferred that it had somehow found a way to mention the alternative of “frot” or “playing by J/O Club rules,” instead of simply repeating the same old “use a condom” message.
It’s crucial to remind young gay men that non-penetrative sex is *always always always* one of the available options for HIV-avoidance, even when you don’t have rubbers or condom-safe lube, it’s 4 a.m., and all the drugstores are closed.
Or, to put it another way, gay men need to be regularly scolded that “We were really horny and in love but we didn’t have a condom, so we barebacked” simply ISN’T AN ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE — given that you can have safe, condomless pleasure with essentially zero HIV risk provided you “play by J/O Club rules.”
And I realize that this was a city-government PSA and that overt references to handjobs maybe wouldn’t have flown — but still, they can do better than JUST saying “use a condom.” (Perhaps something along the lines of “EITHER use a condom OR avoid sticking anybody’s anything into anyone’s anywhere” — to borrow a time-honored slogan from the J/O Clubs!)
Throbert McGee
@jason: “These gays refuse to believe that their predicament is caused by promiscuity.”
Wrong, Jason — or at least, only half of the truth.
I mentioned J/O Clubs in my previous post. For the uninitiated, J/O Clubs exist for the express purpose of facilitating anonymous circle-jerks. Thus, if you go to one of these venues on a busy night, you may well end up getting your hands — and I stress, ONLY your hands — on the dicks of 25 different men.
So J/O Clubs are, in a sense, ALL ABOUT ENCOURAGING PROMISCUITY — and yet, oddly enough, these clubs have never become hotbeds for vectoring HIV or most other STDs. Can you figure out why this is?
(This is why I argue that vigorous promotion of non-penetrative sex is every bit as important as reminding men about using condoms when they f*ck.)
Midas
A lot of people won’t appreciate this viewpoint but homosexuals will continue to be locked in this battle of disease, drugs, and depression until they cut out that lifestyle. Condoms are not only not completely effective at countering HIV but they’re 100% uneffective at countering afterlife judgement.